The Gold Paladin

Chapter 4 - The Castle of Lions

Night looked up into the metallic face of Gold.

"All right. I'm your paladin now." She spoke as if she was speaking to a familiar friend.

Gold opened her mouth. Night gasped.

"Is it trying to eat me?"

Keith tried to hold in a laugh. "No, that's how you enter!"

"Oh." Night looked up. "Where's Lance?"

"He's flying Red back to the castle," Keith responded.

Night climbed into Gold's mouth, the red paladin following close behind. She entered the main control hub and gasped, in awe.

"Wow... I've never seen anything like this before."

Keith was startled. "You've never flown a ship before?"

"Of course I have! Just not a lion like this. They don't usually come out of a cave and decide to bond with me." Night retorted.

"Oh. Okay. That's good." Keith was extremely relieved.

Night took a seat in the pilot's chair. It seemed just right for her. As soon as she did, the Lion sprang to life, it's jointed limbs and wings unfolding; rising skyward. The control panel blazed on, too, and Night could see everything.

"This is amazing," Night gushed. "The tech on this is... perfect. How did they design it?"

Keith blinked. "I actually don't know... These are ancient. They were designed and built thousands of years before now."

"Really? But they seem so advanced? What's their power source? How does this work? What does it use to fly?" Night asked excitedly.

"I'm not really sure..."

"Oh. Ok." Night slid her hands onto the controls, as she had done millions of times. But this time, something was different. She felt a surge of power. She could do anything.

"Hang on, Keith! I'm taking off!"

Night pushed the thrusters into full power and Gold raised off the ground. The villagers below them gasped and pointed in reverence. She flew. Gold sped into the sky, with Night at her helm. Night hadn't flown in a while, and she forgot how free she felt when she flies. Gold increased altitude. In a matter of breathless seconds, they were in space.

Keith smiled. "Great job."

"That felt... So... WOW!" Night was panting.

Keith recalled the first time he had flown Red. He had felt the same way. The red paladin reached over and typed in a few commands.

"There. I've reprogrammed our course to reach the Castle of Lions. That's our main base."

Night nodded. "I'll take you there."

They sped into the cosmos, stars speeding by. Night knew exactly what she was doing. She followed the glittering path, and after a few minutes arrived in front of the castle. Night looked up at Keith expectantly.

"How did I do?" She asked.

Keith finished typing his message to Allura, saying they had gold and were ready to dock.

"You did really well. You're going to be a promising pilot and paladin." Keith praised, which was not something he did often.

Night beamed. "Thanks. Are we docking?"

"Yup," Keith looked up from Allura's message. "The princess says we need to use the hangar. Sorry, we don't have enough space for your lion yet."

"That's fine." Night began to bring Gold in for a landing.

"Oh. One thing, Night," Keith remembered. "Cookies, or scones?"

Night pulled into the spare hanger, setting Gold down firmly on the metal floor. She pulled off her helmet and dismounted her Lion. Keith jumped out after her.

"So what do we do now?" Night wondered.

"Well, I've got to debrief Allura, but I'm sure Lance would be more than happy to show you around the castle."

"Okay. Sounds good!"

Keith led Night to the main control room of the castle, where four paladins sat in their chairs.

"This is the main control room," Keith pointed out. "It's where we fly the castle, send out probes, and where Pidge does her coding and stuff."

Pidge popped up from behind the control panel, glasses slightly askew.

"Keith! It's not stuff! It's important. If you didn't have me, you'd be, what, stranded on a random planet right now?"

"Fine, whatever you say, Pidge..."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Is this our new paladin?"

"Yeah." Keith glanced at Night as if to say 'Ok, give your intro speech, now'

Night gulped. She really didn't know what to say.

All the Paladins turned towards her.

"Um, hi guys? Paladins? I'm Nightshade, but you can call me Night. I'm the gold paladin and my lion has wings. I'm really excited to be working with you guys and I'm looking forward to flying my Lion next to Voltron."

They nodded in approval. One paladin, a dark-skinned boy holding a plate of space goo, called out, "What does your bayard turn into?"

"My bayard?," Nightshade pulled it out of the slat in her armor. "It turns into this."

Her bayard glowed and shifted into the double sword she used earlier. The paladins gasped.

Lance whistled. "That is one cool weapon, girl. Just like you!"

Everyone groaned. Apparently, Lance's antics had not gone unheard of in this castle.

There was an awkward silence. Night's bayard turned back into a bayard.

Pidge cleared her throat.

Night spoke. "Can I just, like get everyone's names? I really don't know..."

Pidge, the short-haired girl sighed. "I'm Pidge, as you already know. I fly the green lion"

"I'm Hunk. I pilot the yellow lion." The Space Goo boy proclaimed.

"You already know me," Lance drawled. "But the name's Lance. I pilot the Red lion."

Everyone sighed, again.

Keith sat down. "All right," He announced. "Lance, can you give Night a tour of the castle? Make sure you show Night her room."

Lance grinned. "I'd be more than happy to! Come with me, Night!"

Night reluctantly followed Lance.

Lions, paladins, space goo, and a tour with a rambunctious boy?

It's been a long day.